4 comments:

Thanks once again. I saw Weldon conduct the Halle regularly, probably more often than I saw JB, who considered Weldon an utterly reliable colleague. He was indeed reliable, which unfortunately sounds as though he is damned with faint praise, but that is not my intention. I have an idea that he recorded Sea Pictures, or In The South, or both, twice. Any information?Andrew Smith

If you do a 'simple search' via CHARM:http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/discography/search/disco_search.html..you can see a 1946/Philharmonia recording of Sea Pictures (also with Ripley).

I don't have much of him conducting: I suspect 'serious collectors' didn't 'collect' him..and have yet to listen to his Philharmonia/Sleeping Beauty (33SX).

Some time back was asked to upload the LSO/Collingwood Elgar: Nursery, etc (don't have Weldon's Enigma, etc, 33SX) - which was intended to be the coupling for this Elgar..but had the Handel files 'kicking-around' on the laptop (was intending coupling them with the Grieg: listed on the Handel rear-sleeve) - as it seemed a shame to keep the splendid 'In the South' performance unavailable for so long.

The 45 EP has excellent/vivid sound: which makes the rather dire 'Sea Pictures' even more disappointing..

At the time I bought that LP of In The South I was more interested in just building up a library of music rather than being a "serious collector". I think perhaps that is still the case, in spite of the thousands of LPs and CDs cluttering the house; I'm a magpie.(This recording was more or less the only one around at the time: I certainly didn't acquire the Boult until box RLS7716 appeared.) Then along came Silvestri, and we were all bowled over by the performance and the sound; it was a guilty pleasure, in that although we (the plural refers to my local Gramophone Society) thoroughly enjoyed it we weren't sure that Elgar was supposed to be quite so exciting and 'un-english'. In time we were proved wrong. I'm meandering down Memory Lane again - sorry.Andrew Smith

First heard the Silvestri ASD, on a Sunday, upon its recent issue when having a bath!! (big Decca TP86 portable radio) - and recall Silvestri's 'Stereo Showpieces' album (Bournemouth/TWO) being reviewed on Alan Dell's Radio 2 'Album Time' show that year (1968) after I'd came back from school.

I do have that Boult 1980's Elgar box (from an HMV Sale) and had been considering the Symphony 1- which got a blisteringly bad EMG review/s.Boult's In the South performance, as with the later one (initially bought as the '80's 'Greensleeve' reissue) is very fine - but 'on CD' - so little purpose served in 'spending time' editing those LP/s.